


The Mighty Fall || Birthright

by reveneration



Series: The Mighty Fall [2]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-26
Updated: 2014-10-30
Packaged: 2017-12-30 12:39:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1018724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reveneration/pseuds/reveneration
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Events unfolding in a kingdom far from Durbe's leads Kaito, a young Prince, to sort the affairs of his family when evil magic finds its way into the court. With weddings and funerals to plan, and crowns to place in new hands, Kaito finds himself trapped with a foot in each world. One leads him to save his brother, and the other to save his kingdom. <br/>Living under the cruel hand of his mentor and balancing a secret world, two brothers seek to help him. One, a lord with the ability to crate wonders of alchemy - and the other, an exiled sorcerer who knows more than he's letting on. <br/>Their story crosses with Durbe and Nasch, but it is not without their own demons trailing at their heels.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

There’s something about winter that makes it uneasy to stand still for too long. The cold is bitter and it chaps his lips, which don’t seem to moisten no matter how many times he licks them. The snow melts under his fingertips, blackened earth exposing the deep scars of its history to him while he traces the same path over and over. This is what it must be like to be stuck in limbo between two extraordinary states of being. Rather, this is how it must feel to be Haruto, so broken beneath a soft surface that so easily melts away.

Fire stirs in the torches. Kaito relaxes his hand.

It’s time for the new year to begin and nothing had changed since the year before or the one before that. There’s no pause to the endless monotone of his life and yet somewhere in the lessons and the nights spent at Haruto’s bedside there’s a brief period of time in which he feels wild and free from the golden rings on his fingers and it’s in that time there is something more than this.

Tall ships skim the horizon and a violet sky breaks into red to touch the false ships and turn them to trees with the first light of dawn.  
His future stares back at him though he doesn’t see it. He feels it - sense the way the wind moves and wonders how much longer he can keep up his mask before the courts.

Dawn has broken.  
Yet there is no joy at a new day.


	2. One || Kaito

Court is dismissed early again. Kaito’s breathes a silent prayer to the gods above for not having to sit through another long hour of useless blabbering. It’s not that these things are useless, in fact, Kaito thinks far from it. What’s useless is how Faker drags out matters of war with neighbouring countries as if it were a sensible topic to discuss. The financial situation of the country and their current relations with the Arclight’s made for uneasy affairs on all sides and it was probably best to avoid starting fires in places they couldn’t put it out. Still, Faker insisted…  
Kaito pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs slowly while he tries to settle his head and stop the oncoming headache from getting any worse. Between that and the heavy chest pains his day so far had been nothing short of miserable and that was being generous on the matter.

“Prince, will you be attending dinner tonight?”

Kaito looks up (he scolds himself inwardly for having been looking at the ground) and takes in Gauche’s form standing by the doors of the main hall and lifts his chin ever so slightly. “I don’t feel too well, and I have to see to Haruto. I’m sure I won’t be missed.” His tone is dry, something that draws Gauche’s attention.

“You’re sneaking out again.”

“A Prince does not _sneak_ I simply have _business_ and you’ll do well to remember that your place is to listen to my orders. Are you a member of my guard or not?” Kaito sighs inwardly and presses his fingers to his temples in exasperation, rubbing slow circles and forgetting formalities. “Isn’t your wife with child? You should be with her, not here.”

“Droite isn’t a weak woman. If I recall she saved your life in battle more than once. She’s an honourable member of your guard and you would do well, Prince, to remember that.” Gauche purses his lips and bows his head after a moment. “Though if you would be so kind, I’d like to spend the evening with her.”

Kaito nods and waves his hand in the direction of the doors. “Go, then. I dismiss you for the evening. Be certain to return in the morning for the morning report. I hear we have news from Sargasso arriving soon in regards to Prince Durbe’s proposal of meeting with King Nasch to discuss the state of our kingdoms. Having to listen to… my father deal with these things is sure to be scene you’ll want to be there for.” Kaito gives a sharp nod and continues down the hall before Gauche can speak again. His head is throbbing and he doesn’t want to continue to deal with conversation. At this rate he’s certain he’s bound to either snap or draw his sword - neither of which would be ideal at the moment (no amount of hacking at things got rid of his headaches, anyway).  
No, he was a proper Prince unlike his tyrant father.

He stops when that thought strikes him, that he so easily pins his father a tyrant. He's not wrong to think it. He knows what Faker is - he knows his choice to use the crest of his mother and her family name is a major act of defiance against Faker's crown and he continues to pay for it dearly under the hand of his advisor.  
Kaito's knuckles turn white when his thoughts turn to Heartland (he dismisses the thought as quickly as it comes - there’s time to dwell on his mentor later). He slams his chamber door shut and rips the crown off his head, throwing it down on his bed sheets and striping off his court robes. Gauche knows about this - the nights he slips out of the castle to ride out into the forests. He’s sometimes even helped him get through the gates without the rest of the guard seeing him.

Kaito changes as quickly as he can while ignoring the stacks of scrolls and books on the desk, tasks from Heartland he's sure. Readings of past kings and lore and - it doesn’t even matter what it is it’s bound to be garbage. The hand of the kingdom was too heavy, and Kaito shouldered that burden in silence, denying the claim that he would fall into his Faker's nature of ruling with fear and imposing his power to make the lives of his people miserable. Kaito needed to be the king they all deserved.  
A good king. A just king.

He shouldn’t even be a king at all, really. The lifestyle never suited him.  
( _That’s an entirely different matter to deal with…_ )

Kaito drums his fingers over his desk for a moment before he throws his riding cloak over his shoulders and exits his chambers, the soft leathers of his boots making little sound as he hurries toward the side passage to get to the stables. He stops for a moment, hovering on the edge of the hall, feet dancing on the spot in a near child-like manner when he shakes his head and hurries back in the same direction he’d just come from, striding past his door and entering through one just up a ways nearly tucked into the corner. Kaito takes the stairs two at a time up the winding tower and tugs at the cord around his neck to free the silver key hanging around his neck and tucked under his collar.

It’s quiet as ever when he enters his brother’s room, knocking to alert him of his presence. “Haruto?” Kaito shuts the door quietly and walks the length of the large circular room to the bed in which his brother is asleep in, curled up in his blankets and clutching the fabric toy - a blue kitten - Kaito had bought him in the market years ago.  
Back when he’d still been able to walk hand-in-hand with Kaito… back when he’d been full of life and wonder and… and curiosity for the world around him.

Now he was broken.

Kaito pushes Haruto’s bangs back and leans in to kiss his forehead. The boy stirs, blinking his wide golden eyes up at Kaito and lifting his head off the pillows with a small groan. “Brother…?”

“Easy. Don’t move too fast,” he whispers, smiling while he tugs the blankets up to cover him and settle him back into his sleeping position. “I’m going out for a ride tonight. Tomorrow morning we’ll go to the gardens if you’re feeling well.” He touches the rough skin forming over Haruto’s cheek and swallows thickly at the sight of Haruto’s hands which are turning violet at the tips and beginning to claw. The decay of magic in his blood…  
“I didn’t mean to disturb your sleep. Get some rest. We can play tomorrow.”  
It’s a lie. They never play, and Haruto’s never well. Yet he promises… He promises because he loves him and wants to give him something to reach for and hold on to. Hope. No matter how small.

“Be careful,” Haruto mumbles into his plush toy, shutting his eyes. “Brother… I feel sick and hot. It hurts.”

“I know… I know. I’ll fix you soon. I promise.” Kaito presses another kiss to Haruto’s forehead and stands, watching him for several minutes until he’s certain he’s asleep. Kaito hears the chatter in the halls below and knows he can’t exit through the side entrance to the gardens. He opens the small window and gazes out past the walls and into the line of trees that marks the forest, the low-hanging moon casting a glow over the misty horizon of the mountain range separating them from the northern cold. As he’s done a dozen times before, he swings one leg over the edge of the window and eases himself out onto the lip of the decorative stones, closing the shutters and scaling his way down with the aid of loose stones to the lower roof of the main hall. Ducking low, he hurries along the edge down to the east end of the hall. He drops again onto a smaller rooftop of the attached kitchen, rolling with the slight impact and paying no mind to the small sting of pain in his shoulder while he judges the distance to the ground.  
With a planned jump, he lands in the straw cart near the kitchen doors and pulls himself out, being mindful to brush himself off while he cuts his path toward the stables.

No guards. No Faker. He’s close enough to -

“It’s a bit late for a ride, isn’t it, Prince?”

“After court, I find it relaxing. Just as you find your studies soothing for your nerves, Christopher.”

Kaito turns to face the eldest Arclight without missing a beat, bowing his head and motioning for him to rise from the low bow he returns. “I suppose we should stop being so formal,” he adds with a sigh. “You are our honoured guests here. There’s no need to address me by title.” Though he itches to leave, Kaito knows he’ll always stop to make time for the young alchemist, and esteemed son of Byron. He was, after all, the future ruler of the north and would be a strong leader to the people of Heriter just as his father had always been.  
Keeping their alliance to the north was key. Anyone could see that.

“I will drop the title only if you stop calling me Christopher. It sounds so old, and I’ve yet a wrinkle to mark my skin,” he teases gently. Chris extends his hand, to which Kaito does the same and allows Chris to kiss his gloved knuckles. Heat flares in his ears and down to his collarbones, and Kaito looks away with a low cough. “I wasn’t aware you were so keen on running across rooftops. I come back from riding with Mihael to find you playing with the birds in the tower.

Kaito’s jaw tightens and he ignores Chris’s last statement.  
“Your show of thanks is appreciated… Chris. But I would like to get going. Thrasher gets restless if I ride too late.” He feels a tightness in his hand and heat flares up his arm. He snatches his hand back and bites back a curse, excusing himself and hurrying away toward the stable. Chris’s confused expression sticks with him until he reaches the stalls and a much more concerning wave of heat passes over his arm and up his shoulder.   
He’s grateful that Chris doesn’t follow him inside to saddle up, and he’s even more grateful that he doesn’t pass him as he rides out.

He’s waited for far too long on this ride out into the wilds and perhaps it’s for that reason the anxiety in Kaito’s chest rises. His heart throbs against his ribs and leaps into his throat when the fire spirals up though his fingers and to his shoulder where he feels the skin tighten painfully. His spine threatens to bow and there’s a strong discomfort crawling over his jaw. Harder and harder he rides through the old trail he knows too well and feels the grip of the the wilds holding him by the throat.  
In these woods, he is a victim to the very earth itself.

The wilds… Forests that no man could ever hope to claim. Kaito had told Haruto all sorts of stories growing up about the creatures living in the forest - from unicorns to imps and even faeries. They’d spoken of the dark rivers where mermaids passed from ocean to ocean and Kaito spun legends he’d been told as a boy about the land and the mysteries that hid within the mist each morning where only the tops of the trees could be seen.  
Stories he would hold on to for dear life, praying to one day show his brother all the old haunts he’d come to know. The hollow tree where he used to play, and the flat stones one could use to walk across the river without getting their clothes wet. The fields between long stretches of evergreens and the flowers that only bloomed in the moonlight.

Thrasher stops suddenly, jostling Kaito from his thoughts. He tugs at the reins and digs his heels into Thrasher’s side but he doesn’t move, only stamps anxiously at the ground and paces over what seems to be an invisible barrier. The horse trembles under Kaito’s hands, making softly noises that seem almost like whimpers.  
Kaito turns his head to look around but the dense thicket gives no indication of what could be startling Thrasher. He fixes his stare ahead again and sucks in a sharp breath. On the path there’s a…. a man - something - blocking his way. Wild, covered in fur and completely still, standing in the mist as if they’re a part of it. The man moves - Thrasher rears up and Kaito meets darkness when his head hits the cold earth.

Leaves crunch. The man kneels by his side.

“Wrong path.”

 

\---

 

The smell of sage and cooking meat brings Kaito back to a world of sound and colour. He groans and sits up, one hand finding the furs wrapped around his shoulder and tugging them closer for warmth. The dry air around him is filled with all sorts of spices and the orange lighting is easy on his eyes after coming to. This isn’t the first time he’s woken up in this hut tucked away in the trees. Kaito blinks to clear his vision and gasps when a set of not-quite-red eyes stare back from under the mask of a cougar, pelt draped back over the man’s head and shoulders.

“Damnit, Thomas!”

He yanks the pelt off of Thomas and throws it down on the floor. “You nearly got me killed. Again! Don’t you have anything better to do than stalk the woods?”

Thomas steps back with his hands raised, chuckling while he turns on his heel toward the pot of stew. “Easy now, Prince. I was only reminding you not to follow the wrong path into the hands of feral imps and goblins, perhaps even a giant spider or two!” Thomas wiggles his fingers and grins his lopsided grin that Kaito has come to find almost as charming as it is annoying.   
He moves with such fluid motions and quickly, too, closing the space between them when he rests one hand on the seat and the other on the wall just behind Kaito’s head. Thomas drags his fingers up the side of Kaito’s thigh and he meets his stare head-on.  
“What could bring such an _enchanting_ being to my humble little home?”

Kaito takes the hand that’s wandered to his hip and plucks it off his skin. “It’s been a full cycle and I’m in need of your potions, unless you’ve forgotten our deal. Which… by that smile… tells me you have not.” Kaito lifts his hand to Thomas’s chin, cupping it and brushing his thumb over his bottom lip. “Exiled vermin. Sorcerer… Necromancer. Have you had your fun in teasing me with such things? I pay you good coin for your work, not to play dress up and scare my horse.”

The fire cracks and hisses, and Thomas straightens to cross the room to his table of various herbs and pots and what Kaito thinks might be a dead rabbit half-skinned. As he’s used to, Thomas hands him a flask of murky liquid and Kaito pops the cork and drinks it without hesitation. He’s used to the burnt smell of it and how it tastes like ash and salt.  
“Until another cycle, then.”  
Despite his words, Kaito leans back in his furs and crosses his ankles with no intentions of leaving just yet. “You have a look in your eyes. You mean to ask me something?” Kaito drums his fingers over the furs again. “Your fingers may continue if you so please.”

“Eager to warm my bed tonight, Prince?”

“Stop calling me that.” He accepts the warmth of Thomas’s body next to his own, even though he scowls. “I don’t ever recall this being part of our arrangement. You’re deflecting. Distract me or speak to me.”

“Your potion needs time to settle. I won’t risk the scars, anyway.” Thomas’s lips ghost close to Kaito’s and for a moment it’s occurs to him that he’s far too deep in his secrets. All of this - this hiding… this sneaking and taking potions and as of late this bedding of a wild sorcerer…  
None of this had been planned and yet here he was. Those thoughts, however, come to a sharp end when Thomas pulls away to stand and speak again.  
“I hear my family is staying with you as guests. How nice that must be. Aren’t they just a charming bunch? Byron especially.”

“You’ve never told me why Byron exiled you.” Curiosity bites. Kaito takes it all too eagerly. “You’ve been on edge since they arrived, even in your letters. Care to explain?”

Thomas sits at his work table, palms flat against the wood while he contemplates an answer. Kaito studies the set of his brow and the way he sinks his teeth into his lower lip before some decision is reached.   
“A night for tales, then? I’ll get the wine.” Thomas casts a last glance over his shoulder and props his chin up on his hand. “A story for a story. I want to know why you are, Prince of Hatoasu. I want to know why Faker didn’t spill your newborn blood all over the floor the day you crawled out of the womb of you wretched mother. I want to know how it is you haven’t been devoured by your own demons.”  
  
“Thomas,” Kaito warns. “Don’t -”

“Tell me, Kaito,” he breathes while leaning forward on his knees, eyes narrowed and a wicked grin curling over his lips.  
“Tell me how it is Faker’s hidden a _dragon_ for all these years.”


	3. Two || Kaito

Kaito gives in to the way Thomas draws his thighs up, lips against his neck while he sucks and licks at the red lovebites left scattered over him. It’s always like this. Before Kaito even gets the chance to say his piece, Thomas unwinds him and dirties him on his furs spread out on the dirt floor. There’s never really a proper bed, Kaito doesn’t suppose fucking needs any sort of thing anyway. He’s warm and his scarred back feels good under Kaito’s hands. He’s lithe and dark and all too dangerous for Kaito to really trust. Yet for some reason he does. Somewhere in all the black coin and secrets he’d come to like this game of bedding the infamous exiled Arclight, not because it was something to do but because it was something wild. It was dangerous and reckless and god, if his father knew he wasn’t pure…  
Kaito tips his head back and pulls at Thomas’s hair when he bites his jaw. “If you leave marks above my collar I’ll skin you.”

Thomas catches his lips and sinks his teeth into Kaito’s lower lip, gripping his thighs a bit harder and increasing his pace to force the furs to rub against Kaito’s hips. Kaito groans and tilts his head back, arching against the leathers when Thomas lifts him to fix his angle.   
“Bold words coming from you.”

“I don’t pay you to talk.”

“You don’t pay me to fuck you.”

Perhaps it’s in the snark where Kaito decides that whatever this is - what… strange attraction this has become, in the end he comes back to Thomas because he’s the polar opposite of what he should want. Someone like Chris. Someone of ‘proper breeding’.  
Why do his thoughts move to Chris?  
Kaito groans and pushes on Thomas’s shoulder and with a shared gasp there’s a tight coil that releases and in the exhale, Kaito drops his head back and feels Thomas’s warmth over him. The realization that this is real. Thomas is real. Chris is real.  
 _Again? Really?_

When their breathing evens out, Kaito pushes Thomas back with his forearm and sits up, one hand on the furs and the other in his hair to fix his bangs. “I don’t know why I let you talk me into doing this,” he mutters but it’s only to hide the red flare that creeps from the tips of his ears down to his neck. It feels good - the intimacy (what a terrible word to use to describe anything involving Thomas) that is - beyond that there’s not much else to this. It’s business. It’s keeping himself from finding his head on a stone with Faker’s blade on the back of his neck.  
What Thomas provides on the surplus end of their meetings isn’t something he needs but he doesn’t exactly mind. The physical touch - the idea of letting himself be dirtied by someone so forbidden to him thrills him even though in the back of his mind he knows it’s not the right choice. It’s an awful choice. Submitting to Thomas’s like this removes him for a moment as a Prince.

Thomas strips him bare and forces him to look at a distorted mirror of himself. Thomas shows him his inner demons. His ugliness. In the end, Thomas destroys him and rebuilds him and in all that, Kaito wonders if this is what true freedom is like. To feel cold to the touch but on fire inside, desperately wanting to run and being able to sprint away for a short period of time from all the things that chain him to his life in the palace. Everything right now is a contradiction inside him and yet…

“You still haven’t told me about your family.”

“You haven’t told me how you’re a dragon.”

“You don’t give up, do you? I’ve told you. It’s my bloodline.” Kaito wants to clear his throat and move on with the conversation but Thomas looks at him from his side of the furs, propped up on one elbow and looking as if he might devour him. Despite himself, Kaito takes in his nude form, from the scars on his arms and legs to the inked patterns over his hips that disappear onto his back. He’s unlike anyone else in his court, from the colour of his skin to his eyes and untamed cut of hair.   
Before he can stop himself Kaito places a hand on his hip and dares to dip it toward his inner thigh, their lips connecting for a brief moment when Kaito considers ending this conversation with a second round. Yet there’s no time between the kiss and Thomas’s small headbutt and obnoxious mutter of ‘tell me’.

Kaito cocks a brow and reaches for his robes (this was going nowhere and Thomas wasn’t going to stall for sex), tugging them over his head and sighing in frustration. “I thought it was obvious. The dragon gene existed in both bloodlines and I was a recipient. Born human and dragon. It happens… It used to. I think we all assumed the dragon blood in royals died out a long time ago and yet here I am. In the flesh.” Kaito pulls on his boots and begins to lace them up slowly. “Only you and my father have seen me in that state in which I was born. That half-human… half-dragon form. My mother wouldn’t look at me… she was horrified by what she saw. She claimed I was a monster.”

Thomas nods slowly while he adjusts his leathers, rubbing his hand up Kaito’s back while they settle back on the furs. Kaito gives in to the touch, tucking his arms under his head and shutting his eyes while Thomas does this. Half-clothed and still content, he doesn’t mind this.

“Now you. Tell me why it is you are put into exile when Mereg can surrender her place to the throne to live as a sorcerer. You should have been no different.”

“No. Byron has a great fear of sorcerers. He barely tolerated Chris and his alchemy. The simple fact is that it wasn’t my sorcery. It was that I wasn’t of Byron’s blood. My mother had an affair and I was born to the sorcerer she bedded. Mihael was born to correct their marriage… to salvage her image but the fever took her after the birth and my father only tolerated me until I could survive on my own. By divine right under the banner of our new gods, I was turned out into exile and told to live on my own in the woods.”  
Thomas's fingers stop on Kaito's back and he sighs as if the story winds him. "I was... adopted, you could say, by an old mage living in the woods. She was kind to me, taught me to speak a manner of languages and read and took me to market disguised as a little orphan all wrapped up in ragged cloaks. She was fond of puppets and clay dolls, my first perfected talents if I may be so bold as to say so. When she passed, I moved south of my land and into this forest here where I settled, and that’s my sad little tale,” he mutters. 

Thomas rolls onto his back to stare up at the ceiling and exhales loudly through his nose. “You’ve seen my power and yet you do not fear me. Is that the mark of a prince or a fool?” he asks, fishing for his pipe by the furs. “Don’t answer that, I already know. It’s the mark of a fool. Shall I read your fortune in the cards again?”

Kaito plucks the unlit pipe from Thomas’s mouth and sets it off to his side. “Not while I’m here. It’s unhealthy and it smells awful.”

“It’s my home!”

“It’s my fucking coin that pays for this shit.”

Thomas rolls again to wrap his arm around Kaito’s waist, tugging at the fine fabric around his waist and kissing his shoulder. “Something else to ease my mind, then? Or does the prince of such greatness have a limit to how much he can take in a night?”

 _(How dare his lips be that tantalizing….)_  
“I’m half-dressed. I’d have to undress again and that seems like so much of an effort,” mutters Kaito with a long drawl, half tempted while reason tells him he needs to get going. “Don’t you have anything better to do? Making potions or turning frogs into princes for village girls?”

“I tried but they all grow up to be jackasses like you.”

“I’m touched.”  
Kaito rolls his eyes and stands, stumbling a bit while he fixes his robes again and buckles his sword.  “Thank you for the potion. Have you found a more permanent solution to my… condition?”

“I’m still working on it. What I actually need is to see a dragon. A true dragon! They’d have the answers I need. Their magic is ancient… powerful, from a time before us. Can you imagine a time when it was just dragons? Feral beasts and fairies and -”

“Thomas, do you mind? I’m not caught up in your fantasy world the same way you are. These things don’t interest me.”

“Your brother would be eager to see them.”

Kaito grabs his hilt of his sword and draws it in a swift motion, landing the blade inches from Thomas’s neck. No matter how great Thomas’s help, there were some lines that no one crossed and Haruto was one of them. Thomas is unflinching, eyes flicking down to the blade.  
“How the hell do you know about Haruto?” Panic rises in him, boiling in his throat and making his stomach tighten with raw fear. Not even the courts knew of Haruto - yet Thomas, some outcast, knew of him. How? How could such a precious piece of information have escaped so far out the palace walls?

“Lower that fucking blade.”

“No. You tell me what you know about my brother.” Kaito lowers his sword and sighs in anger. “He is my secret. He is the shame of my father and if you know of him then that means other might. Do you know what it would mean to have them -”

“You’re overreacting.”

“How do you know?” Kaito demands. “Tell me how the hell you know this.”

Thomas raises his hands and scowls. “I only know that you keep him locked away in the tower.” The evasiveness isn’t missed and Kaito begins to raise his blade again.

“And who told you?”

“I have eyes and ears all over your town now answer me this, Prince. Is he like you, then? A dragon?” Thomas places his fingers over the lowered sword and runs his thumb over the sharp edge until it draws blood. He licks his thumb and chuckles a bit. “Two Tenjos with dragon blood… How delightfully scandalous. Your father must be so proud to know what shame lives under his roof.”

“If it was that simple, it wouldn’t be so bad,” mutters Kaito. His eyes turn downward and turns away from Thomas, sheathing his blade. “He’s like you. And me.” While Kaito takes his blankets and prepares his riding cloak he hears the muffled gasp of surprise from Thomas’s direction.

“He’s… a sorcerer? And Dragon?”

“Yes.”

“That is a fatal blood combination.”

“You think I don’t know that?” he yells, slamming his fist down on the worktable, rattling the various bottles and bowls of liquids and herbs, things he’d seen Thomas toss casually into boiling flasks while muttering spells and other such things. In a place of such magic, there was not an answer yet for Kaito’s questions. There was no cure to save Haruto or himself.  
“I see him in pain every day. I watch his skin turn to scales and smell the burning flesh inside him. I have to save him. You have to find a way to get rid of this dragon inside both of us.” Kaito clenches his fists and shuts his eyes. “Nothing else is more important. Remember that.”

“Your family is not my number one concern. Do not forget that what you ask of me is a fucking favour. Your coin doesn’t do me much until I go to market.”

“I can tell my father you’re here. I’ll have you arrested and killed.”

Thomas grabs Kaito’s collar and slams his back against the door. Their eyes lock; Kaito doesn’t flinch or move to take his blade, only meets his hard stare.   
“Don’t make me laugh. Without me, you’ll both die. You wouldn’t risk it.”

Kaito’s lips twitch and he pulls Thomas’s arm back. “You’re right. It’s one bluff I can’t turn into an honest threat. But if you do fail, in the end, I will kill you.”

Thomas steps back and bows low in a mocking fashion. “May my head lay upon your block of stone for my final execution. I only hope you will keep your sword sharp for that day, dear Prince.”

“Mock me no further. I have to go.”

“I’ll ride to the edge of the forest with you,” mutters Thomas, grabbing his light saddle off the floor and scowling back at Kaito. “The paths change, you know that. Don’t ever think  you can ride out of here without my help. You need me, like it or not.”

“As you need me.”

Kaito follows Thomas out the door and he takes only a brief moment to look behind him at the hole he’d built his home into out the side of an old hill. Tucked inside in the grass under roots and dirt… On the other side was a wooden house that jutted from the side, an old mill with its still turn wheel functioning as a place for Thomas to store his goods and keep up a front as a ranger in the event guards ever came by to investigate.  
When he turns to Thomas again he flinches from the sight before him, of the _thing_ that Thomas puts his saddle on.  
“What the hell is that thing?”

“Heaven is a nightmare, thank you very much. And she takes great insult to being called a thing.” Thomas mounts the mare under him, her sleek black fur looking like wet stone under the moonlight filtering through the leaves. Kaito narrows his eyes at the joints, though, which look as if they’re stitched together - reanimated and sunken… _How does Thomas even deal with these…?_

What makes the big leap between Kaito’s world and Thomas’s is that when Thomas rides between the dirt roads carved out by sorcerers of old, the trees bend for him. They twist and spiral and their roots themselves move around him - as if he is the moon and they are stars. Thomas is wild and with no more than his presence can he make the world around him change. There’s a sort of mystery to Thomas that Kaito can’t quite put his finger on, as if somehow he’s transcended simple mortality and become something more. Something great and yet something to fear and admire.  
Thomas’s hand catches a world in his palm - he grasps it with the same wonder and determination as a child who tosses coins down wells on wishes they think will bring brighter days. What Kaito clutches to is a fragment of a broken kingdom that bites back the harder he tries to hang on.

They are two different people. Two radically different souls occupying such a small space.

“Branch!”

Kaito ducks under the low-hanging branch and narrows his eyes when Thomas veers off in another direction. “Thomas, this isn’t the way back -”

“Why crash through the front doors when you can sneak through the back?” Thomas throws a wide grin over his shoulder and powers down the path with Kaito hot on his heels. The trees get dense and the path becomes more and more rough. Thrasher’s hooves seem to slip when they climb toward the open space beyond the tree line toward the city. Kaito nearly cries out in warning that something of Heaven’s… nature might not be overly welcome in public.  
Yet when they emerge into the moonlight beyond the forest, she looks no different than any other horse.  
Magic. Always magic.

Thomas draws up his hood and slows his pace to a walk, glancing in Kaito’s direction and nodding. “See? Easy.” He chuckles and straightens his back. “So. Cure your brother, then? That’s my goal?”

Kaito exhales loudly through his nose and looks away. “There’s plenty of healers trying to help us… But magic is stronger than medicine in times like these.” Kaito stops when Thomas does, glancing over as he dismounts. “Supplies?”

“I have to start somewhere, don’t I?” Thomas adjusts his cloak and pats Heaven’s side. “My payment, if you don’t mind?”

“You never change, do you? Same charge. Same stale taste in my mouth.”

Thomas leans in against Thrasher’s side and plucks the velvet purse from Kaito’s fingers. “It’s worked out for me so far. Why change now?” How Kaito tolerates this bizarre pattern is beyond him. They give and take - push and pull. Lovers to the largest threat to one another with nothing more than this simple knowledge of how the other came to be. Yet one could not survive without the other and that… that was something Kaito wasn’t sure if he liked or not.

_There’s no power. I have no control and he knows it… bastard._

Kaito digs his heels into Thrasher’s side and continues on toward the gates, entering with a short word to the guards and bringing Thrasher right into the stables for the night. He takes his time cleaning up and washing his face off in the small basin in the guard station. He checks his skin for any marks (nothing under his collar as far as he can tell) and heads inside with the intention to go check on Haruto and retire for the evening.

“Out late again, I see.”

Kaito stops and takes in a slow breath, trying to halt the reaction which starts his heart hammering against his ribs. Heartland’s voice alone chills him - it roots him in place and makes him want to vomit. The last thing he needs is to have his father’s advisor breathing down his neck wanting to know where he’s been. Simple enough, Kaito doesn’t trust him and he can’t afford to have Heartland find out where he’s been or why. Even though he was aware of Kaito’s blood, if he knew where he’d been…  
Byron would find out and that wasn’t an option so long as Thomas was going to help him heal Haruto.

“Kaito, you will answer me when I speak to you.”

“I didn’t hear a question, _Sir_.” Kaito twists his head in Heartland’s direction and pulls his lips back in a faint snarl. “I’m very tired. Surely you want your pupil rested.” He turns and begins to walk toward his room, but is stopped by a hand on his shoulder turning him around. Heartland pins him between himself and the wall, towering over him with his fist near Kaito’s head.

  
“Don’t talk back to me. I don’t take very kindly to your attitude, boy. I know you’ve been sneaking out… and I want to know where you’ve been going.” His free hand takes Kaito’s chin and tilts it up toward him. “What could be so important that you have to creep around like a mutt in the dark?”

“Mutts chase slimey cat burglars, don’t they?”

The slap echoes around the empty hall and the tense air hangs between them. Kaito turns his head back to face him, eyes turned away. “I need to rest if you don’t mind. I’m expected to be in court tomorrow.” Kaito ducks under Heartland’s arm and keeps his back to him while he walks away. “I’ll be on time for my lessons, Sir.”

“See to it that you are. I’ll be keeping you late. To make sure you don’t wander off.”

Kaito slams his door shut and locks it, palm pressed to the wood for a solid minute until he declares it safe enough for him to step back and collapse onto his bed. He runs his fingers over his face and sighs, frustrated that things are getting more and more tense and urgent. Heartland. Thomas and his cure. Haruto’s state. All of it feels too heavy a weight for him to take on.  
There’s no sobs and no tears, only a long exhale when Kaito rolls to his side and pulls the covers up from the corner to yank over himself lazily. Unchanged and unwashed, he lays there replaying the night in his head, remembering Thomas’s warm body pressed to his own and how it felt to be momentarily not… him. Not a Prince or a master to a rotten crown. It stirs him, still, an involuntary reaction when he begins to think of other hands across his body. Would Chris’s touch feel like Thomas’s, or would it be softer from his unworked and civilized hands? How would it be to fee the contrast against his skin… furs that smell of the earth and silk sheets from the royal chambers. Incense and fresh linens.

 _What a terrible time to be hard._  
Kaito inwardly groans to himself, reasoning that after an unpleasant interaction with Heartland there’s no harm in trying to loosen his tight muscles. His fingers creep under the waistband of his trousers and he palms his hard cock, playing over the fantasy in his mind. Chris’s smell of metal and pine needles and Thomas’s lips on his neck. Every small touch and image that plays in his head sends hot flares down to his arousal. He pumps and squeezes and bites his lower lip while trying to stop himself from making any noise.

“Disgusting….”  
Kaito releases the breath he’d been holding and he stands to change his clothes, stuffing his soiled sheets and clothes under his other laundry. After a quick re-dress into his sleeping clothes, Kaito settles back down on his bed and places a hand over his eyes, sighing in frustration and exhaustion once more.

Tomorrow is a new day and Kaito’s not sure he’d ready to face it.

“You better not let me down.”  
He doesn’t know who he speaks to. Himself. To Thomas or his family or - No, he knows.  
Whatever gods are listening he speaks to before he bites back on his words and lets out a bitter laugh.

“You already have.”


	4. Three || Chris

Rain pounds against the well-worn path leading from the castle to the forest, forming puddles in the imprints of horse hooves left behind. It’s been raining in spurts for two days straight now and small breaks in the clouds promise that it may soon change. Chris thinks there’s a reason for it. Grimly, he thinks that this fits the mood of the past few days. He hasn’t seen Kaito since the other morning, sporting a deep bruise over his cheek and a split lip. Training accident, he’d called it, but Chris knew something was wrong. What that thing was… he couldn’t say. Faker? Even though he ruled with a cruel hand would he strike his own son? It seems unlikely  
Chris shakes his head to clear his wet bangs from his face and he stops at the entrance of the forest, patting the side of his horse and urging him forward over the hidden path. He knows the forest well, having mapped out the ever-changing trees and what stone markers he could use to guide him. Though the latter half of trip takes place on foot, the destination is the same. When Thomas’s cabin comes into view Chris carefully knocks four times and steps back with his hands behind his back. There's a long stretch of silence that greets him until the door opens a crack and Thomas's head of wild hair pokes through.

"You're late."

The door shuts, the locks slide open, and the door opens fully.

If Chris thinks back on things, and in all honesty he tries not to do so for very long, this strange relationship between them had always existed somewhere deep in the blood of their veins. They always had to sneak. Sneak food. Sneak visits. Sneak rides into the woods so Byron wouldn't know. The anger for his father's actions burns white hot as ever inside him but there's nothing Chris can do to reverse the damage. Damage done to a child with no control. If only Thomas had been born like him...  
Chris removes his gloves and reaches out for Thomas with no hesitation, cupping his cheeks and drawing their faces close to press a kiss to the space below each eye and then his lips. If only. If only he could change their fate... Thomas's sad fate.

"A prince is never late," replies Chris, trying to shake off the disillusioned memories.

"You're my brother, you twit. Sit down." Thomas wipes his mouth on the back of his hand and begins to tidy up some of his workspace. "I don't regard that man as my father or my king. You're just Christopher Arclight to me."

"I'm almost offended. I thought you at least appreciated me as a bed warmer." Chris slips his fingers back into his gloves and frowns when he looks down at the table he’d touched, noting the slight cracks on the surface. Nerves. “I have little to tell you. Not much has changed.”

“You rode all the way out here to tell me you have nothing to tell me? I’m no master scholar but I’m fairly certain that’s a waste of your time. And mine. Can’t you see I’m busy?” Thomas motions to his workspace again and the tipped over bottle of beer and some other liquid that looks like an experimental potion. The cabin reeks of alcohol and pine… and some faint scent of…

“Is that maple?”

“I’m trying something.”

"You're drunk."

"No I'm _elated_ there's a difference." Thomas takes the bottles and tosses them in the wooden crate by the table and bows low in a mocking fashion. “My dear prince, welcome to my humble home. Oh, please do grace me with your royal presence and bring such goodness to my dwelling. Please do - oops.” Thomas picks up the furs he’d dropped and he places a hand against the table to straighten his back. “What was I making fun of you for? I lost my place.”

“Funny. Sit with me, I want to talk.” Chris pats the spot next to him by the fire and looks up at his brother. “It’s been a while since we last spoke… a few weeks now?"

"Last time you were here was shortly after you became Faker's honoured guests," replies Thomas with a deadpan drawl to his voice. He settles in next to Chris and rolls his eyes. "So yes. A few weeks." His fingers reach across the fabric and he places them over Chris’s rings through the thin gloves. “When did he stop you from wearing my stone?”

Chris’s eyes drop and he pulls off his gloves again, revealing the the three rings and their stones. Green. Orange. And a gold band with Byron’s crest on it. Once, there would have been a violet stone but Byron had ordered Chris to remove it. Thomas’s place in the world was no longer with their family, as much as it pained Chris to admit. Byron was rejecting his son… a prince who could have been a mighty king.  
No place. No home.

_‘She has no place here anymore.’_   
_‘Thomas is my brother.’_   
_‘You will not speak of… get out.’_

“You look uncomfortable.” Chris watches the way Thomas sits and shifts in his seat as if he’s having trouble getting a position in which he can properly breathe. His hands flutter for a moment and then drop to his waist. “Let me undo it. You’ve been wearing the leather for too long, you need to breathe, Thomas.”

“Breathing is optional for someone with my magic,” he mutters darkly while turning. “The second one you made me isn’t very comfortable to wear under soft armour. It makes it hard for me to move and ride.”

“I’ll try again, then.”  
Chris unlaces the piece of clothing that resembles a bodice and opens the back to reveal the angry red marks left on his skin, even bleeding in some places near his shoulder blades. “Do you have any ointments? I don’t want this getting infected.” Chris pauses and looks around. “And you will not bandage your whole chest, either. Last time you nearly passed out. We just need to get this healed up…”

“Top shelf by the work table.” Thomas keeps his arms crossed over his front and looks over his shoulder. Chris leans in, placing a kiss to his forehead and standing to search for the ointment. The marbled jar of sweet-smelling paste is one he’s familiar with. He remembers their mother using the same balm on their cuts and scrapes growing up. Funny, how not much has changed all these years in the most simple of ways. Her ribbons are still tied around the wooden dolls on the lower shelf and the oils smell like her perfumes.  
Thomas was always close to their mother. Much closer than he or Mihael had ever been.

Chris rubs the balm against the red marks and helps bandage Thomas, mindful when his fingers graze the front of his chest. “I’m sorry,” he mutters.

“It’s not like you haven’t seen me before, you know.” Thomas sighs and lifts his arms for Chris to finish his work. “This… husk of a body is just what I have to live with.”

“I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“You have no trouble touching me when we fuck.”

Chris’s cheeks burn and he drops his hands after finishing his work with the bandages. “When you want to be touched, that’s one thing. This is another.” His fingers walk up Thomas’s spin and take his shoulders, rubbing as gently as he can. “I want to treat my brother with the utmost respect.”  
Chris drapes Thomas’s furs over his shoulders and kisses the side of his neck, sighing in content when he gives in and leans back against him. Chris rests his chin on top of his head and sighs, his hands rubbing over his sides and up to his shoulders again. “We need to talk about it. About what our father is doing.”

“He’s _your_ father. I have no blood with that… useless excuse of a man.” Thomas nearly spits the word ‘father’ between his teeth, venom laced tight through his voice and coiling up Chris’s spine. It was never any secret that Thomas despised Byron and all he’d ever been. As a child, Byron had never really grown attached to Thomas, often being distant with him and focusing his attention elsewhere.   
Chris didn’t blame Thomas. He couldn’t, even when he once tried. He’d tried for so long to protect his brother but in the end, Byron had exiled him regardless.

Chris still sees it. The sky at sunset, the colour of blood and black clouds hanging low over the tree line. Thomas… Thomas, just a boy, being dragged through the mud and the rain with a cloak over his head and his hands tied.  
Mihael, screaming. Chris, grabbing Byron’s arms and demanding for him to explain himself and bring Thomas back. It rained all week and Chris stole his horse each day to ride out and find him… praying and begging for him to be alive.

_“The princess is dead.”_

Chris snorts at the thought. Thomas had never been a princess in any sense of the word, stomping around in tattered skirts through mud puddles just to anger their father until he dressed him in tunics and trousers. Thomas using a kitchen knife to cut his long curls off and stealing clothes from the servants to go play in the gardens with his brothers racing after him. Thomas struggled all his youth with wanting to be, well, Thomas.   
Perhaps, in some ways, exile gave him the chance to be free of the life Byron had bound him to. But the cost… all of his life…  
This was hell and torment. Magic, a curse. He would know the cost of such secrets.

“Not much has changed. The prince continues to go up to the watchtower to see his brother and Faker tries to find ways to go to war with us. Father is seeking a means to mend our lands… He’s said very little to me, truthfully.” Chris frowns and plays with the edge of one of Thomas’s belts hanging near the fire. “...I’ve taken to talking to him lately. The Prince. He’s a good man. Rather charming, too.”

Thomas tenses in his arms.  
“Kaito? The prince?”

“Yes.”

“You’re an idiot. Feelings will only complicate things if war breaks out. Protect your heart.”

Chris chuckles and kisses Thomas’s neck again. “Or maybe you just don’t want to share your big brother. Do you like knowing only you get to taint the precious firstborn?” He ruffles Thomas’s hair and takes his lips after a short pause, but Thomas seems off, somehow. Tense. “Do I have to ask or do you want to get right down to ravishing one another?”  
  
“You just told me you’re throwing kisses at the prince and now you want to fuck?”

“You’re crude.” Chris laughs to himself and sits back, letting Thomas crawl on his hips. “What I want… is to know you’re here with me. Still, and always. I’m sure by new gods and old we are still sinners and martyrs… damned and broken and full of tainted blood.” Chris rests his chin on top of Thomas’s head and frowns at the opposite wall. “I’m rambling again why aren’t you telling me to shut up?”

“I miss your useless chatter, unfortunately. It’s a bit comforting to hear your voice again. You get bored with all these… other things in the forest.” Thomas waves a hand lazily in the direction of the door and frowns. “Though yesterday I had to free a unicorn foal from a trap. Hunters are getting too close for my taste.” Thomas pauses and brings his fingers up to Chris’s hair, untying it from it’s loose hold and running his fingers through the braid to separate the carefully plaited strands. “I’ve gotten so used to these… mundane things. Tired of the kings dogs in my traps.”  
His eyes glaze over the row of bottles on the top shelf and his fingers still. “Sometimes I wonder if I should kill Byron. Dissolve their courts in such a manner. But the truth is that I have nothing to gain. I want no crown and no glory. I just want to hold his warm, wet heart in my hand and know I’ve destroyed him.”

Chris sits in stunned silence, Thomas’s words prickling every hair over his skin. “He’s… He is your father and -”

“No. I am the son of a sorcerer who bedded our mother and don’t tell me to think of him as my father. I won’t. I want him dead.”

“He is my father and you will not speak of him that way!” Chris tries to stand but Thomas’s calm fingers in his air keep him sitting. Thomas begins to braid his hair again and it’s unnerving. “How can you say such things without remorse?”

“I was barely a boy when he turned me to the wilds, do you think I should be sympathetic to a man I hate? Killing him would be for my satisfaction and nothing more. And even then, I don’t know if it would bring me joy or simply add to the blood on my hands.” Thomas lifts a finger to his lips and bites down on the nail of his thumb, sighing quietly. “My magic is only fun when I’m raising a little hell. I don’t think I want to pay the price to kill anyway. I enjoy my good looks.”

“Vain as always, I see.” Still, his words make Chris’s skin feel cold and unclean. To think someone of his own blood would...

"He's not a good man. I know he’s done awful things. But… we can’t blame…” Chris stops and looks over his shoulder at Thomas, meeting his burning stare. “I’m sorry. I can’t -”

“ _I’m_ the only one who owns the right to despise him. I’ll be his judge and executioner and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.” Thomas finishes up the braid and tucks it over Chris’s shoulder, flattening it and frowning for a moment. “You don’t get it. You really don’t get it at all, do you? You get to live some… cushy, pampered life under his hand and I’m the one who nearly loses his fingers every fucking winter!”  
  
Chris is used to this. The anger. Thomas bottles it up and he either explodes or lets it simmer out slowly in a way that makes Chris worry. Ever since he was young, something about Thomas was different. He’d always been afraid to get angry, until now. Now his anger was a bed of hot coals. Thomas sits in silence, thumb between his teeth while he grinds against the nail and avoids Chris’s gaze. He was angry, yes - but Thomas also knew not to pick fights with his older brother.

“You think I’m pampered?”

“You’ll be fucking the prince soon enough…”

“Are you sulking?” Chris furrows his brow. Thomas’s curiosity and reactions to the future king were interesting. “He’s not going to take me away. I don’t even know if -”

“I don’t give a damn about that. I just want you to be aware that this life is hell and don’t you dare think you can even begin to understand. No prince of the Hatoasu wilds will make this life easier to live.” Thomas continues to chew on his thumb, scowling at the wall. “I’m tired. You should go.”  
  
Chris kisses the side of Thomas’s neck and places a hand on his hip. “You should be with us. You belong with our family.” Liking rising hiccups, the fear inside Chris is raw and real. Something about Thomas is off. “I worry about you.”

“I can kill a man with a leaf, a stick, and a bad mood. I wouldn’t want you to worry. My magic is strong. Very strong.” His eyes search the wall and Chris’s heart freezes. The smirk that pulls at Thomas’s mouth corners cuts through Chris and he sees the madness in his brother. The desire to wet his lips with fresh blood. As much love as he had for Thomas, he was still a Necromancer, dedicated to dark arts. And with it, there came… traits. Mannerisms. Things that still scare Chris even though it’s been years.  
Chris fidgets with his gloves and looks down Thomas’s back. When he was young, he took to finding dead animals and excitedly looking at books even Chris couldn’t read. Yet Thomas chattered away and he would see the birds gasp back to life in his hands.. but it never lasted. Chris knows why now. That to restore full life, to breathe back the kiss of death, means to sacrifice another soul or rip out a piece of your own.

“I have a damned soul to give and no life deserves that.”  
Thomas looks over his shoulder. “I know where your mind is going. Don’t worry, I’m not going to kill anyone or raise the dead.”

Thomas reaches back and takes Chris’s hands, pulling his gloves off and receiving a cry of protest.  
“You spend so much time worrying about me and not enough about the fact you’re going to go through the rest of your life wearing these fucking things.”

Chris makes a grab for his gloves, but Thomas catches his hand and presses his lips to his palm, and then his fingers. Chris watches in horror as ice spreads over Thomas’s lips and turns them blue and frosted.  “I…”

“You have to be careful. You’ll undo your own status if you can’t hide this. How will you ever bed your prince?” Thomas cocks a brow and his tongue travels up the length of Chris’s finger, which in turn makes Chris shudder (not in pleasure, but in horror) to see the blue frost form over his tongue.

“Stop… I’ll hurt you.”  
  
“A bit of cold never killed anyone now did it?”

“Well, actually -”

“Sarcasm. Sarcasm, Chris.” Thomas drops his hand and offers Chris his gloves. “You’re not so different from me, are you?”

Chris’s lips press into a thin line and he scowls at his younger brother. “I”m not like you. I’m not aligned to darkness. I didn’t choose to be -”

“You think _I chose this?_ You think we actually have a choice? You’re a glorified mage that borders on the barest of skills shown in child sorcerers. Byron hid your magic because he _loves_ you, because he wants his bloodline to _live._ You don’t have the right to lecture me. I was born into dark magic, as we all were. You wouldn’t know what it means to align. _It’s never a fucking choice_.” Thomas’s anger is at it’s peak, and Chris’s heart sinks.  
  
“Thomas -”  
  
“Get out. I’m busy.”

Chris says nothing more, standing with a curt nod and leaving in silence. He mounts his horse and ignores the burning pain in his chest when he rides back down the long path. Thomas was right, and that’s why it hurt. To know that yes, Chris lived with his magic in secret because he was the eldest. Thomas, the bastard of another man, was doomed from the start.  
But something sits uneasily in Chris’s stomach. Aligning was a choice, wasn’t it? Necromancers weren’t just born.  
Were they? Chris doesn’t like to think Thomas knows the answer.

Chris’s mind still swims but those thoughts become sucked into a black void when he lays himself down to rest. Kaito, Thomas, Byron, Faker… too many players and too many stories to follow. Someone was hiding the truth.  
Not that he thinks very far into it when sleeps takes him in the early dawn. There’s only one clear thought that lingers in the morning.

Thomas is dangerous.


	5. Four || Kaito

Blood has a particular smell to it. It smells like a poorly forged sword, and the pungent aroma makes Kaito’s head feel light. His stomach flips, though he doesn’t know why. Rather, he doesn’t know if it’s the blood or the scene of a guard sawing through the hand of a caught thief, his screams ringing through the lower chamber. The Justice Circle, his father called it, when in truth there was no justice here. Perhaps, under an old god, but not in this world of new gods, little faith, and too much fear. Heartland’s grin of pure enjoyment makes Kaito nearly vomit.

“This is asinine,” he mutters, looking away. “He’ll die of the shock. Why let him go at all?”

“He’ll be made an example of.”

Of course he will. Everything with Heartland is a performance, at the expense of some poor prisoner’s life. Justice. This farce was becoming too much to handle.

The smell of blood was starting to make him sick again. His head hurt and he could taste the metallic tang clinging to the roof of his mouth. Each forceful swallow to clear his throat brought no relief, only the sensation of fear and disgust.  
This was what he wanted to get away from, these acts of cruelty and displays of power. It's beyond Kaito how these qualify as lessons.

"Don't look away, it shows weakness."

Kaito doesn't want to look back. He doesn't want the blood taste in his mouth and the image of his severed hands imprinted in the deepest parts of his brain. He's already subjected himself to nightmares induced by Heartland's terrible training and he's not in a rush to add to that collection. Though Heartland yanks him by the hair, Kaito doesn’t look.  
This training, if it could even be called that, was supposed to be a test of Kaito's abilities to hold their laws in the face of any circumstance. But this? This proved nothing other than the ability to be a bully.  Kaito wasn't going to give in.  
Weakness wasn't in looking away, it was following these sick orders in fear.

Heartland scares him.  
If he's to be honest with himself, Heartland truly does scare him. For all he's done to him, for all the threats he's made to Haruto... Kaito hates him, and yet he fears him. He wishes he didn't. Every day, Kaito wishes to overcome it.

Maybe, like his tolerance for these lessons, it would take great patience.

When he’s shoved away after the lesson, his body is pinned between Heartland and the stone wall. The foul smell of wine on his breath and the uncomfortable heat of his body forces Kaito’s heart to climb into his throat. Heartland is everything that he despises, everything that’s bad and rotten in the kingdom at its very core.  
His sour breath is inches away, though mercifully it doesn't last long. Heartland delivers only a solid backhand across his cheek before he leaves, muttering about the state of the monarchy and something else Kaito doesn't pay attention to until he shouts down the hall.

“There will be war if you can’t be a real king!”

Kaito can’t recall a time where the threat of war never hung over his head like a knife, pointed down at him and threatening to drop at any moment. _Walk straight, speak loudly, eat your steamed cabbage… Do this, think this way, do that… War, war, war._ Apparently, the country was so unstable that if Kaito dared to breathe the wrong way, chaos would erupt and their kingdom would collapse.  
Funny, how fragile politics were when Heartland was concerned.

Kaito licks his chapped lips and feels the split left from Heartland's cane just a few nights ago. He's grown used to the abuse over the years, and knows that Heartland only hits where it won’t show… until recently. The beatings get worse, often leaving him with marks on his cheeks or neck, or in some cases a black eye. Chris asks questions… Thomas knows for certain what goes on.  
There is an image he must project and that of a beaten dog isn’t one of them.

Kaito licks his lower lip and fixes himself before he proceeds into the main hall that lead to the council room. When the colours in the halls changed, Kaito isn’t certain. Once, it was rich purples and red with white on their banners, but soon the House of Tenjo flew black flags with muddy greens. When his mother was alive, she would stitch gold dragons into Kaito’s robes and tell him stories of when dragons used to fly Kings across the seas.  
It makes his stomach twist. He told everyone (even Thomas) that his mother had rejected him. In truth, it was easier to pretend she hated him when she alone was the only one who never looked at him with disgust.

She called dragons beautiful. Strong.  
Kaito often wonders if she knew there was dragon blood in her veins.

Kaito takes his place at council, ignoring the whispers about his appearance. Training, they say. With injuries like that, he must train hard. It's easier to let that lie exist than expose Heartland and risk Haruto's safety.

His lip still bleeds, and Kaito licks it again while shifting in his seat. Even if Kaito felt the risk was enough, he doubts Faker would ever listen to him, let alone believe a word against his beloved advisor. How Heartland had come into such great influence was a cocktail of charisma, observation, and manipulation. Faker has such blind faith in Heartland that it makes Kaito sick.

“We are calling this council to order.”

Kaito struggles not to roll his eyes. Council was a joke at best, and that was putting it lightly. It was always the same three topics: Kaito getting married, the tension with Byron, and plans to reforge their bond with Nash's kingdom (which Faker had done a fantastic job of messing up anyway).

As if on cue, Heartland enters with Faker, and Heartland announces loudly they've found a possible solution to their problems. Wonderful. Just great. Kaito's certain this plan will be fantastic. He leans forward on his elbows, watching Heartland carefully when he turns to Byron and Chris. "While our families lack heirs of the opposite sex, our laws dictate that in such circumstances, the two eldest sons may form a union if a mistress is chosen to have a son."

Kaito's heart leaps into his throat and he grabs the armrest. What is Heartland playing at?

"A union between Christopher and Kaito would settle bad blood and unite the kingdoms. In honour of the crowning, they can travel to Nasch's kingdom as the new ambassadors for peace."

Panicked muttering follows. This law has not been put into practice for eight generations. Kaito knows that it's heavily scolded by many of their new travelers who have settled in their lands, and fears the backlash. Yet, Byron looks serious when he stands to speak. Chris sits still, eyes straight ahead and unmoving.

"This will be -"

"And have you not thought to ask me? Or Christopher?" Kaito interrupts Byron and Heartland casts him a menacing glare. "This would mean we are to wed, after all."

"I was under the impression women were not your taste, anyway," replies Heartland dryly. "Am I wrong?"

Now that's humiliating. Kaito has no means to get out of this. If he admits to Heartland being right, it has the consequence of causing a rift with those of the new faith and shaming Faker’s image. If he denies the claim, a search for a bride he doesn't want will continue.  
He thinks of Thomas, then. His body isn't what people expect of a male, but Kaito's never felt less attracted...  
Damnit.

Kaito balls his fists and sits down. "I have little interest in anyone." Evasive. But it proves nothing. "I wish to serve my kingdom." He says the words between his teeth, as if they're ripped out of him. He cares for his people, but as far as he's concerned, this court can burn to the ground. His people… Kaito was never one to venture far outside the walls beyond his castle, as Heartland kept him under lock and key. How many people in this city knew his face? How many faces did he know in return?  
Serve the people. Serve the unknowing faces outside the gates.

“A union between myself and Christopher is a diplomatic solution if we are kings. As princes, it does very little for us." Evade. Understand. Heartland is playing a very dangerous hand here, and Kaito intends to understand why.

"King Byron and I will be turning our kingdoms over by the harvest," says Faker, turning toward Kaito. "In my poor health, it would be ideal for you to rule as King Regent. Heartland tells me the kingdom needs... young blood."

Kaito tenses, his fingers gripping the arms of his seat. Heartland is twisting tales and making plans, and Kaito doesn’t know why. As if he’d want Kaito to rule. Yet among the chatter, Kaito can’t afford to speak against it. Rumour would spread he didn’t care about the throne or its people, and surely that disaster was best avoided.  
With nothing to say in defense, he sinks down further into his seat and does his best not to scowl. With a hand to his temple, he says the only thing that comes to mind.

“I wish to speak to Christopher. Alone. If you’re to marry us off, I’d like to speak to my future fiance.” Kaito doesn’t exactly mind the idea of being wed to Chris. He’s attractive, and there had been moments of… feelings.

Faker and Byron grant leave, and Kaito escorts Chris out into the hall and toward his study. He moves quickly, and nearly slams the door behind him. “They are making fools of me,” he says to Chris. “They’re trying to treat our kingdoms like chess pieces!”

“I suggested it.”

Kaito stops, one hand on the glass orb Thomas had gifted to him, and the other reaching for the pitcher of wine. He cocks his chin to the side, as if he’s waiting for the joke that follows.  
“...What?” Those prior feelings of not minding a marriage to Chris start to drop far through his stomach.

“Relations are tense. Our people are still too grounded in the old faith, and we’re too isolated to have a proper trade route. With our lands joined, we can move our trades south and gradually establish a proper order. It’s not unreasonable.”

Kaito’s fingers tremble in anger. All the sweet smiles were nothing more than illusions, weren’t they? Yet, Chris continues.

“I care for you. We could rule in a civil union and be a driving force to unite our kingdoms.”

“I suppose you think that makes it better? That you won’t stab me in my sleep once we’ve sealed our contract? I don’t know what sort of fool you take me for, Christopher, but I will not consent to this sort of union.”

Heartland won’t let him deny it. The thought is already lingering on the edges of Kaito’s mind and it’s making his fingertips numb. He can’t face his father with these claims, either. To try and dishonour Chris would make tensions worse between their families. He cups his hands near his mouth and stares at Chris over his knuckles. “You’re a bastard.”

“I’m aware.” Chris places his hand behind Kaito, pinning him between Chris and the door behind him (Honestly, Kaito is getting tired of people pinning him today). There is silence between them, with Chris’s mouth so close to his own he can feel the warmth of his breath against his cheek. Once, Kaito wanted him this close; longed to kiss him and know his taste. Yet now, he is plagued with disgust and anger. It reminds him of Heartland, this sinking feeling of remorse and frustration.

“Get away from me!”

“I can give your kingdom what it needs to survive. And more. We have an advantage in these forests, Kaito, and I can provide it. There’s a power in your land.” Chris’s grip tightens for a moment, and then releases. “You need me. Politics are too important right now to waste our time on romance.” When Chris turns to the map on the table, Kaito has half a mind to launch the wine at him, but he doesn’t.  
Chris picks up a chess piece from the board (the queen) and sets it down on the map. “There is a terrible secret in my family, Kaito… But it can benefit us.”

“Don’t speak to me as if we’ve taken vows. Our people might riot against a union like this, and you’re talking about this as if all will go smoothly. I’m not your family, I am not anything to you other than a means to take the throne and -”

“My brother lives in these forests. You might have heard rumours of a necromancer.”

Kaito’s heart leaps into his throat. Thomas never mentioned that he and Chris were speaking, but Chris was certainly implying it. It would explain why Thomas knew about Haruto, and his knowledge of the city. It’s easy to see now how closely woven he and Chris have been for some time now. Necromancer… power… Kaito doesn’t think Thomas is involved in any of this given his spite toward Chris lineage. However, Kaito knows he can't rule it out and the anger swells into a tight ball in the centre of his chest. Admitting to Kaito openly what Thomas was, under the assumption he didn’t know, was proof enough that Chris was certain of this plan.

"I'm aware of what's in the woods," he spits back. "And you won't get leverage on me thinking you can lure me with promises of a stronger throne. Thomas is not a weapon."

Finally, Chris looks startled. He takes a step back and grips the edge of the desk. "Who told you he -"

"I've known Thomas since he came to these forests." Kaito almost wants the rub the salt of their hidden affair into the wound, but that would give Chris an edge. "He's a friend. Which is more than I can say for you. You've been giving him information. Telling him about my brother...!"

"It seemed reasonable to pass on. Heartland told me. I can only assume that means you have one of those abilities?" The desk creaks under Chris's fingers and Kaito notes the splinters of ice embedded in the wood.

"That would depend. Sorcerers are forbidden to sit on the throne, Christopher. Lift your hand." Kaito moves closer. That's definitely ice. There's a tear in his glove, and where his skin touches the surface, the ice seems to form. Kaito grab his wrist and Chris holds it steady between them, hand closed and eyes narrowed.

“You think you can begin to understand? It’s not magic.” Still, with such strong words, there’s hesitation when Chris removes his glove. He brings his palm to Kaito’s cheek, ignoring all protest when he skims his thumb across his lower lip and rests against the cut. His touch is cold, but it somehow shocks Kaito’s senses, like pinpricks all over his lip and cheek.   
“An accident with some side-effects. Alchemy has a price, it seems.” Chris removes his hand and reaches for his glove again. “And what charms has my brother shown you, hm?”

“More than you ever will. We’re done here.” Kaito grips Chris’s collar, but the action has little meaning to his next words.  
“...I cared about you. And this is how you bind me.”

“I do care about you. We can make this work if you’d listen to me.”

“I am done talking to you!” The anger flares again, but Chris’s face seems… sad? It confuses Kaito, and he lingers, waiting. “...Why do you want this throne so much?”

“My family is built on a legacy of bloodshed and needless sacrifice. Lies and the bones of our ancestors. It’s a cold and desolate place, and you and I can build a better land. A better people. We can forge better politics. Create an empire that won’t be so bound by old tradition.” Chris turns his head away to stare at the tapestry of Kaito’s family tree. “Byron has left a toxic legacy. We can clear it… Start anew.”  
  
“...I need to ride out. We can discuss this later.”

“Which is it? The sorcerer or the dragon?”

Kaito slams his study door shut and brushes past the guards and servants in the halls. He sees Heartland coming in his direction, but Kaito can’t stand to face him. In what he knows is a foolish move, Kaito pushes Heartland’s hand away and ducks away from his cane when it’s pointed to his legs. “I have important business in preparation for our union! I’ll be in the townships!” he calls over his shoulder. He doesn’t pause again to hear Heartland’s reaction, only continues out the west wing doors to the stables.

It’s the second long ride into the forest he takes that week.

 

***

 

“What are you doing here?”  
Thomas’s hut had stood empty, with the magical locks in place. He’d marked the trail this time, and Kaito knew there was only one other place Thomas would go if he wasn’t at home.

“I like the river. It’s where you first saw me, remember?” Thomas flicks a stone into the water. “It’s where you left me, too, if I recall?” Thomas leans back against the ancient tree that hangs over the water and closes his eyes. He motions for Kaito to sit with him, and Kaito relents despite his initial plan to demand if Thomas knew any of this.

"We live in different worlds. I did what I had to do..." Kaito glances across the river and focuses on the flickering lights that dance through the foliage. Probably some sort of fae creatures. “It’s been a bad day. Can we not talk about this?”

“What do you want?”  
Thomas flicks another stone across the dark surface and grins when it strikes a jutting rock in the center. “I’m not in much of a fucking mood, so -”

“I’m to marry Chris.” Kaito pulls his legs up and rests his chin on his knees with a heavy sigh. “He told me you were a source of power, that we would build a new a stronger land. Did you know any of this?” He turns his head to stare at Thomas’s slack-jawed expression. “I’ll take that as a no.”

“You agreed to marry Chris?”

“No. He suggested to my father that we use our law to have a union and bind our lands. It wouldn’t be so bad if we wasn’t using me.” It even sounds dry in his ears.

“Well I knew he was ambitious.” Kaito nearly snaps at how casually Thomas says it, but a second glance shows tension over Thomas’s shoulders. His hands are rigid, the veins visible under his skin and his knuckles white. “Bastard thought I’d support this… he used me as a threat?”

“He told you about my brother, didn’t he? Why didn’t you mention you were seeing him?” Kaito stands when Thomas does. “Was there a reason?”

“Does he know why you know me?”

“No. I asked you why you -”

“Good. Your secret is still safe unless Byron or Heartland disclose it. Take a few days, say you have business in one of the townships… We need to ride out.” Thomas picks up his furs and drapes them over his shoulders. “Did my father say they wanted you as King Regent?”

A hard lump rises in Kaito’s throat, full of suspicion and frustration. Thomas knows something that he’s not sharing. “Yes. Will you answer if -”

“We need to ride tomorrow.”

“Thomas, I - ”

“It takes a few hours and we - “

“Thomas! Shut up!”  
Kaito balls his hands into fists. “My day has been full of lies, can you tell me what is going on? I’m left in the dark! Chris has… magic and you’re talking to him… is he spying for you? Why are you acting this way?”

“I need you to trust me. Just this once, trust me. I can’t tell you here, not now.” Before Kaito can protest, Thomas drapes one of his cloaks over Kaito’s shoulders in a move that feels tender. It smells like sandalwood and pine… like him. It’s soothing, and it sucks the anger back into a black void that sits still so heavy in his chest.   
“There is a place I can take you for answers. It’s hidden near the Sorcerer’s Trail up north. We need at least a day.” Thomas places his hands on Kaito’s shoulders, and the touch is enough to drain the strength from Kaito’s body. Between Heartland’s lessons, the council, all of this… He’s tired. He’s so tired.  
  
“Let me stay here. I told Heartland I was going to be away.” Well, more like yelled it, but… “I’m tired, Thomas.”  
No sooner have the words left his lips that he feels a near haze over his mind. Things blur, colours and shapes and he feels warm when he lays down on the pile of furs and straw. Thomas’s arm circles his waist, and the warmth of the fire brings Kaito back to a different time. A time when he kissed recklessly and played in the river with a wild boy draped in leather and simple cloth. Throwing mud and riding horses, seeing the stars at night. Once, where being a prince meant nothing to him. It’s too romantic, even for him.

“Try and rest. I’ll wake you after dawn.”

If he says goodnight, Kaito doesn’t hear it.


End file.
